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Volkswagen To Close Plant Due To Supply Shortage

German automaker Volkswagen will close its main Wolfsburg plant on Monday due to a parts shortage, according to Autocar.

It seems Volkswagen is unable to get the parts they need to build their vehicles and due to this, will close the Wolfsburg plant for one day on Monday, giving employees a three day weekend and a chance to enjoy more of that fine German pilsner, just not on the job.

Volkswagen, along with BMW and Porsche, have recently come out and stated that their suppliers are having some serious issues with meeting demands. Currently, German vehicles are selling like hot cakes and the parts required to build these vehicles just aren’t showing up. The United States and China are the largest contributors to this increase in demand, a good and a bad sign for the company that hopes to take over as the world’s largest automaker by 2018.

The automaker's Wolfsburg plant can produce up to 3,000 vehicles per day, but without engines and other various parts, production just isn’t possible. According to Volkswagen, this shortage will have no impact and the company will be able to solve this issue. Would you have expected them to say anything else?

This certainly is not a good sign for Volkswagen, as supplies are crucial to the automotive production process. Without engines, one might as well go back to The Flintstones. Autocar spoke with Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Sciences, who stated that these supplies account for about 75 percent of the vehicle’s value.

VW isn’t the only car manufacturer to have issues though, as Ford was forced to close its Dearborn Truck Plant for one week due to a supplier issue.

No matter how one examines the situation, the fact of the matter is that VW will need to work these problems out if it’s going to become the world’s largest automaker by 2018.